How to Ask for Help
If you're having trouble using your laser with LightBurn, you're in the right place — the Troubleshooting section of our official documentation.
But if you can't find answers here, you might need additional assistance. You can reach us by email at [email protected], or join our Support Forum, where you can search to find solutions to your issue, or make a new post asking for help.
So that we can help you as quickly and effectively as possible, please keep in mind the following things, and provide these important details. Scroll down for more information on each list item, plus a few additional things we might request.
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Provide Setup Information:
- The specific model of laser you're using
- The type of controller it uses, and what firmware it's running.
- A direct link to your laser's product page
- What operating system you're running LightBurn on (Windows or macOS)
- The version of LightBurn you're using
- Method of connection (USB, Ethernet, WiFi, or LightBurn Bridge)
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Explain the Issue:
- Step-by-step explanation of what you're doing and seeing
- What you expected to happen, and what happened instead
- Context — is this your first time using your laser? Is this issue new, or has it happened before?
- Please use complete sentences and explain the issue as thoroughly as you can
- Include screenshots — not cell phone photos — of your entire LightBurn window
- Share your LightBurn project file (.lbrn or .lbrn2)
- Send Support Data
Please be kind to our Support Agents
We know it's frustrating when things don't work the way you expect them to, especially when you've got orders to fill and deadlines to meet. But please remember there's a human on the other side of the screen. Our Support Agents want nothing more than to help resolve your issue as quickly as possible.
Setup Information¶
Laser Model¶
We support hundreds of machines, and they all behave differently depending on their exact type. Some lines of machines even have features that are unique to them alone.
Please tell us the name of your laser's manufacturer, and its exact model. A direct link to the product page where you purchased the laser is a big help.
Controller / Firmware¶
A controller is essentially a computer within your laser, and the firmware it runs determines the type of instructions it can translate into signals it delivers to the motion system.
Because of the differences in controllers/firmware between different lasers, we might need to know what controller/firmware runs your laser in order to assist you with your issue.
If you're not sure, see Identify Your Laser. If you're still not sure, a direct link to a product page for your machine is usually enough for us to figure it out on our own.
Identifying exact firmware version for GCode-based lasers
Most entry-level diode lasers use GCode-based controllers.
When you connect to a GCode-based laser, you'll see a start up message in the Console Window, sent by the controller to LightBurn. This message contains the name of your laser's firmware, and its version.
Identifying exact firmware version for Ruida controllers
Ruida controllers are common in more industrial-grade machines. If your machine is a CO2 laser in a metal case and has an LCD display, it likely has Ruida controller.
The firmware version will usually appear on the controller's display when you start it up, but when you've connected to it using LightBurn, you can also go to Laser Tools → Get Controller Info to see it.
Operating System¶
A handful of processes are different depending on whether you're running LightBurn on Windows or macOS, and we occasionally see software bugs that affect only one or the other operating system.
Sometimes knowing the exact version of your operating system helps too.
Here's how to check your specific version:
- Windows: go to Settings → System → About
- Mac: go to Apple → About this Mac
LightBurn Version¶
Because LightBurn has changed over the years, we need to know the exact version of LightBurn you're running to know what behaviors you should or shouldn't expect to see. Some tools work differently than they used to, or didn't exist at all in a past version.
If you're using the latest version, we want to know that too, in case you've uncovered a bug we need to investigate.
Your LightBurn version is always visible in the topbar of the LightBurn window. It's off to the left on Windows, and centered on macOS.
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The location of the LightBurn version on Windows. -
The location of the LightBurn version on macOS.
Note
Older releases of LightBurn did not contain the version information in the topbar. If you do not see the version number there, go to Help → Quick Help and Notes → About instead.
Connection Method¶
Tip
Be sure to check out our Connection Troubleshooting page before contacting support.
If you're having trouble connecting to your laser, the exact method you're using makes a big difference in the troubleshooting steps we'll recommend.
While this information is mostly relevant for connection issues, it can also be an important piece of the puzzle if you're seeing unexpected results from your laser.
Please tell us whether you're connecting by:
Explaining Your Issue¶
Step-by-Step Description¶
Whatever issue you're having, we need details to help you resolve it. Lots of them.
Tell us what you were doing step-by-step, what you expected to see happen, and what did or didn't happen instead.
Especially if what you're doing is too complicated to fit in a few sentences, sending us a numbered list of the actions you're taking is a great way to help us understand what you're doing and seeing.
Follow this format:
- I did ____
- then ____
- then ____
- I expected ____ to happen,
- but instead ____ happened / did not happen.
Please use complete sentences, proper grammar, and punctuation. This isn't an English exam, and you won't be graded, but sentence fragments and run-on sentences are not easy for us to understand.
If you are a non-English speaker, please feel free to write in your native language — we'll use Google translate.
Context¶
Some additional context helps too:
- Is this your first time setting up your laser or using LightBurn?
- Did what you're trying to do work before, and then stop working, or has it never worked for you at all?
- What have you tried doing to resolve the issue so far?
Screenshots / Videos¶
Even with all that information, it's hard to know exactly what's happening without visuals. Please send us full screenshots of your entire LightBurn window, with everything in view.
When we say screenshot, we mean your computer's built-in ability to capture an image of its own screen. Low quality cell phone photos are extremely difficult for us to see.
If you don't know how to take a screenshot, visit Take-A-Screenshot.org for instructions.
Videos can sometimes be helpful as well, especially when you need to show us the behavior of your machine. Please do your best to keep the camera steady, and focused on the relevant activity.
Please do not take videos of your computer's screen using a cell phone, and use your computer's built-in screen recording feature instead.
Even if you're sending us screenshots or videos, remember that we still need the written step-by-step explanation so we can make sense of what you're showing us.
Project Files¶
Sending us the project file you're working with in addition to screenshots is even better. We can look over all your settings, and directly test out any edits you're trying to make.
Go to File → Save (or Save As) to save your project file in .lbrn or .lbrn2 format, then attach that file to an email to us.
Please don't send us the original source .svg, .dxf, or .ai file, unless the issue you're having is specifically with the importation process.
Crash Logs¶
If LightBurn crashes, we want to know about it. You might see a LightBurn Stack Trace message, and a LightBurn_Crash_Log.txt file will be saved to your computer's desktop.
Sending us this file is the best way for us to identify exactly what caused the crash, and fix it.
Please remember that we still need the explanation of what you were doing, your LightBurn project file, and that we may need to follow-up to ask for more details.
Support Data¶
Sometimes, we might ask you to send us your Support Data.
Go to Help → Generate Support Data to copy an automatically-generated block of encoded characters to your clipboard. The clipboard is the temporary storage location your computer uses when you copy and paste items.
LightBurn will return a message indicating that the data has been successfully copied.
Then, in an email to us, press Ctrl/Cmd + V to paste it. It might look like a random string of characters, but don't worry, that's what we need.
Warning
Never shared your Support Data publicly.
Console Information¶
If you're using a GCode-based laser, we might ask you to send us information from the Console Window.
You can select and copy that text (Ctrl/Cmd + C), then paste it (Ctrl/Cmd + V) directly into a message to us.
Feature Requests¶
If you've got an idea for a new feature, we're all ears. But the best way to share it with us isn't to contact support.
We provide a dedicated site for users to vote for new features — LightBurn.Fider.io.
You can search to see if this has been requested, and vote it up, or add it so others can vote their support as well. This helps us prioritize which features to direct development time toward.
For more help using LightBurn, please visit our forum to talk with LightBurn staff and users, or email support.